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While growing up and playing ice hockey with two older brothers, differentiating between hockey and boxing was not always clearly defined; as the old standby goes, “We went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out.” Both require elegance and a strong nose. Years later I saw the movie  Cinderella Man starring Russel Crowe. After the seeds of inspiration were planted in my youth by  Rocky, I learned of the story regarding 1935 - ‘37 heavyweight champion and virtuous family man, James J. Braddock. This was the final motivation needed for me to respond to the promptings pounding in my heart: to begin boxing.

It would be hard to spend a week in Jamaica and not notice the surrounding beauty. From the first day, I fell in love with the mountains and the ocean. But as the week went on, I noticed a different kind of beauty. The more I had the opportunity to interact with the residents at Jacob’s ladder, the more I noticed their childlike trust and love.

Near the end of our exciting last full day in Jamaica – which involved a morning spent with the residents, a trip to Kingston, and a short interview on Mustard Seed’s Kingston neighborhood radio station – the fact that our trip was coming to an end was inevitably dawning upon us.

One morning I found myself at Jacob’s Well, recalling that last Sunday’s Gospel reading was that very passage. I was over looking Corinth and the foundations of Damascus with Antioch behind me. Needless to say I was disoriented. I didn’t remember going to the Holy Land, and I was positive that Damascus was more than a stone’s throw from Corinth.

Greetings from Jamaica! I am Connor Schmidt, a first-year college seminarian studying for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Right now, it is spring break for the seminary, and a group of us are down in Jamaica serving at Mustard Seed Communities, a Catholic mission that serves persons with mental and physical handicaps across the world. We are all blessed to be here, but it’s been a strange journey so far.

The beauty of the Mustard Seed Community here at Jacob’s Ladder is like a breath of air to someone who has forgotten to breathe for a few minutes.  Having just completed midterm examinations, many of us were somewhat worn out going into Mission. But upon arriving at Jacob’s Ladder Monday afternoon, every care was swiftly carried away by the simple beauty of this place.

Bathing our cabin before dawn was a vast cloud of morning dew resting gently upon our mountain ridge. Walking through the small dancing beads of mist to the chapel for morning prayer, I looked to the east and was stunned! Shining faintly through, outlining the silhouettes of trees jaggedly peaking from the crest of the mountain across us, was our glorious star awaking life in Jamaica.

“God of freedom, all victorious, Give us souls serene and strong, Strength to make the future glorious, Keep the echo of our song; North Dakota, North Dakota, In our hearts forever long.” These are the words of the North Dakota State Hymn which exuberate within the hearts of us seminarians from the Bismarck Diocese. 

This past weekend we hosted our annual Men's Discernment Retreat at Saint John Paul II Seminary and while many of the discerners, seminarians, and priests that were present had attended this retreat before, it was my first time.  I was certainly looking forward to meeting the 38 men who courageously signed up for the retreat and made the commitment to spend a weekend away from their normal schedules to speak with priests, question seminarians, and listen to God's voice.

“After a while they played at forfeits; for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol 

I first discovered St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill one evening in an MPD cruiser while on patrol with the police radio rattling into my ear. I pulled over and parked in front of the Church and walked in. I turned the radio volume down low, yet its pitch still seemed to softly disturb the silence that permeated the peaceful atmosphere. Seeing the flickering candle beside the tabernacle signing to the presence of Our Lord, brought me a sense of refreshment. St. Peter’s became a place of recourse throughout my job as a cop.

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of attending the retreat for the Catholic Student Center (CSC) from the University of Maryland.  It was an awesome experience with over a hundred students from the University of Maryland and other schools, including Howard University, as well as seminarians representing Capuchin College in DC, Mount St Mary’s seminary, and two of us from St John Paul II seminary.  Four of us seminarians on the retreat used to be students at the University of Maryland, and had attended this retreat as students when we were still at UMD.  

On my first day of my summer assignment at St. Andrew Apostle in Silver Spring, the pastor, Fr. Dan Leary, had a meeting with the vocations rep, Maria Bailey, and me about organizing a team for the Run For Vocations that the Archdiocese does every year.  Fr. Dan wanted me to work with Maria to get the parish to join the team, organize fundraisers, and team events, such as training runs and team get-togethers.  Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive about the idea of organizing and leading a team since it was my first big assignment in a parish. 

On October 21, the alumni of Saint John Paul II Seminary now studying at the North American College in Rome gathered together to commemorate and celebrate the life of a great saint and the patron of our diocesan seminary, whose feast day was on October 22.

Last year, as a new seminarian, I was full of anticipation and excitement for pursuing God’s will in my life. I was ready to begin my first year and follow the Lord wherever he wanted to lead me. As I was starting my time in seminary, I was asked to write for the blog on the parallels between the start of the construction of the new wing and my entrance into seminary

For as long as I can remember, summers have always passed too quickly.  With the new school semester quickly building momentum and the smell of fried chicken fading from memory, many people turn a longing gaze back on the cherished days of summer.    

In Oxford, there’s a custom on Ascension Thursday for all of the choirs of the various colleges to climb to the tops of their gothic spires early in the morning to sing to the Lord as the sun rises over the Cotswolds countryscape.

Ordinations to the Transitional Diaconate will be on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Matthew. Ordinations to the Priesthood will be on Saturday, June 17, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

After ending a long week of classes, late night studying, and midterms, twenty-three other seminarians from the Mount and I found ourselves on a bus towards Philadelphia International Airport. We checked in our bags, stood in line for TSA, and hopped on a plane headed for Italy. Once on the plane, it finally hit me, "When this plane lands, I will be in Rome." I was beyond excited to see all the beautiful sites, to taste the delicious food, and to see my brother seminarians at the North American College. 

Friday was our last day at Mustard Seed and the day was divided into two parts. The first consisted of completing our work project, which entailed erecting a 38-foot-long wall from scratch. We were uncertain if we would manage to complete the wall, for we had but four hours to build, but we continued with high hopes.